Another exciting evening in the DC life of Anne Chiu.

My roommate Lauren and I were finishing up a late dinner (around 9pm) when the doorbell rang. Lauren was expecting a friend, so she got up to answer the door. I called out to her, "Be careful who you open the door to!" or something to that effect, as I walked the other way into the kitchen.

Looking over at the door, I saw her open the door, look out, then slam it and lock it behind her as she started running towards me. She had this weird agitated look on her face. I asked her, "What's wrong?" as she picks up her cell phone and starts dialing.

"There is a strange man at our door, and he said, 'Don't worry, I'm unarmed.'"

So I started to feel a little scared too, as she was dialing 911 and reporting the incident that a strange white man with "little hair" and a striped shirt was hanging out in front of our doorstep. I kept asking her what happened, was he scary-looking, etc etc. Neither of us wanted to go over to the window to see if he was still there. What if he was?!?! I also began to feel particularly vulnerable standing in the kitchen where the door opens to the backyard.

Later on, after the 911 dispatch lady called back and asked if he was still there, I went over to the window and carefully peeked out of the blinds. Whew, no one there. Lauren and I sat down, and we tried to figure out if he was a psycho, homeless man, or what.

It suddenly dawned on me that perhaps he was a friend of one of our roommates (who is currently away on vacation.) I had this friend of hers a couple times, and by the description Lauren gave, it matched. Lauren hadn't met this friend before. And he seemed like the type to give a joking remark like that since Lauren was being cautious about opening the door to strangers.

The door rang about an hour later, and Lauren told me to answer it (we knew her friend wasn't coming over by this time.) This time I asked several times, "Who is it?" and got the reply, "Is Robyn (our roommate) in? It's Wade." Ohhhhh! It was the friend I was thinking of. "Just don't slam the door on me again... that was nice... really." Needless to say, it was a rather awkward first meeting for Lauren and Wade, and he didn't really feel like coming in after the "warm welcome" we bestowed on him.

But who could blame us? Our next-door neighbors had been burglarized, I had been groped by some stranger, and it was late evening in DC... and why would someone say "Don't worry, I'm unarmed" when that's assumed and you're saying it b/c you actually are armed?!?! Plus, we're a house of paranoid females!

Ah well, better Wade than a psycho at our door!